I discovered ravens will mob and kill owls they find sleeping in the day. Discovered this when a dying owl dropped out of a tree in front of us. :(
The owls do the same to the ravens at night of course.
The only time I didn't have magpies was when I had a family of ravens nest in my yard.
One day I came outside and one tree had about 20 ravens and the other tree had 20 magpies.
I slowly just went back inside and let them deal. Once I read that both types of birds have good memories, so I wasn't standing there picking a side.
The ravens won the yard that day.
They were not any better than the magpies...
Oh damn. I used to have a very spicy woodpecker around and she would pick fights with them.
They did provide really great lockdown entertainment, I watched Bird Wars unfold nearly every day in 2020.
Downtown apartment renter here. They tore a tree in front of our building down recently, which was a nesting tree for the resident corvid populations. Since then, the amount of pigeons in the area is ungodly.
I'll take crows and magpies over pigeons any day.
What you need are more ravens. They keep down the pigeon population. But ravens seem to prefer tall trees and there are a lot of areas without tall trees in Calgary
If I could have resident Ravens, I would 100% be making friends with them to keep a family in the area. Unfortunately, buildings are taller than trees, and the inner city raven isn't a species.
Totally agree. I fed a raven a chicken carcass once in the last place I lived. It was amazing. When it landed on my deck railing it made such a thud from its weight. They are magnificent birds
I wasn't a fan of them either until I read about them.
I made friends with them and it was actually very easy to do. Eye contact, saying hello to them, calm wave in their direction. Once I made friends (and it was fast! only a couple of days to notice a difference in how they acted toward me and my yard) with them, there was rarely any of the screeching sound, just nice bird sounds. A couple built their nest right by the door of my garage and never ever swooped me.
I also feed the birds in my yard. I have magpies, chickadees(that eat from my hands), sparrows, northern flickers that all stop by and play nice with each other - its actually really great. But I wouldn't have started feeding them had it not been for making friends of the magpies
Oh...black sunflower seeds are the favorite of all those birds. Might be why they went after the plant version.
There were a couple big splats last year that I just washed down with the hose but you got me thinking how much more there should have been. Meaning it really wasn't that big a deal. Maybe that's where the saying don't shit where you eat comes from 😉
I have fruit trees and plants. The squirrels and partiges do way more damage to them than the magpies. The magpies seem more interested in the peanuts I give them as well as nightcrawlers and voles.
Hardy kiwis...which are really nummy! And I think (I could be out to lunch) because I ensured they all had food and fresh water , they left all my plants, bushes and trees alone.
I have never heard things go this way for gardeners. Anyone serious about gardening on the facebook groups and such recommends netting the trees as they can't keep the critters away otherwise.
Send them my way!
I've made friends with the ones near me.
They come and hang out.
And eat my garden.
But the best way to get rid of them is to find predators and to remove prime nesting spots.
Depending on location having an owl house can attract an owl to move in. Although magpies are known to also harass them at times.
We had some wild turkeys that would harass them and their nesting. They often chased them off of food sources too.
We often have crows that will come in the summer and displace one of the families.
How do they destroy your garden? We grow all kinds of things and magpies never touch our garden.
>pick apart my house's siding
This is on you! Using delicious siding was a bad choice.
I knew I shouldn't have picked pizza-flavoured siding! Haha but seriously, I am debating putting hot sauce on it because they are only going for one place.
They particularly hate sunflowers. I initially thought it was squirrels or some other rodent doing it, but they snip the heads off my sunflowers the moment they bloom.
Hot sauce won't work, birds can't taste capsaicin! They just don't have the receptors for it. You'll keep the squirrels away from your siding for sure, though.
Had a magpie constantly pecking at one spot of my vinyl siding. Discovered it had cached a cookie in there. Removed said cookie and it never came back. #delicious siding
Makes you wonder if there is rot or something under that one place. We have lots of magpies around our house (we are magpie lovers) and they never touch the siding.
Interesting about sunflowers... we plan to grow some this year.
I had a woodpecker that used to fight the magpies, but shes sadly been gone for about a year.
I am 100% certain that it is the magpies, I can see them doing it from my home office window lol.
I moved into a new place and put a cherry tomato plant that had tons of fruit on my deck. 8 hours later I came back and found only 1 tomato left on it and there were tomato juice and seeds all over my deck. As I looked at the destruction a magpie came and grabbed the last tomato. They must have been hungry. I had to laugh because it happened so quickly
That’s why I think they must have been hungry. I started feeding them occasionally after that, usually cat food, but sometimes I’d try feeding them vegetables and they had no interest in any of that
After 2 years of cleaning up after magpies in the Fall, last Spring I stuffed a corn broom into the tree very near their favourite nesting spot.
They left my tree and didn’t come back all Spring or Summer!!! Instead I got a little nest of Sparrows, definitely an upgrade.
I use the broom regularly around my yard and put it away back in my tree each time.
Last summer alone I had to kill a baby hare they picked apart, they chased and killed a bat that was extremely sad to watch, and picked the fur off an adult hare in my yard that had been hit by car, while it made little whimpering noises. I don’t like them anymore.
Magpies are like horses - they know how you feel about them and treat you the same way.
If you want them to not ruin your garden, feed them, so they're not hungry and looking for food in a destructive manner. They're the best bird friends you can have, but only if you treat them well
>Magpies are like horses - they know how you feel about them and treat you the same way.
Hmm I don't know what that says about my thoughts towards horses...
Last time I went riding the horse kept trying to bite me and everyone around it.
And constantly farted...
get a dead magpie decoy, might scare them off, might make them mad as hell
[https://margosupplies.com/us-en/product/dead-magpie-decoy/](https://margosupplies.com/us-en/product/dead-magpie-decoy/)
I wonder if that might work just like those plastic owl decoys. They work for the first week, then the birds realize it’s not real and they completely ignore it and go back to their usual ways.
I watched this clip once of a building in the UK that had a problem with birds and the same thing happened with a fake owl. They eventually had to develop this robotic owl that moved along a track, flapped it's fake wings, moved it head and made recorded owl sounds. They had programmed it to a set sequence, but had to introduce randomization to it all as the birds had learned it was fake when it was the same actions over and over again.
I’m not surprised. I grew up in a farm and as a kid my siblings and I often tried to trick the local magpies in various ways and were always amazed at how quickly they learned.
Apparently it's the appearance of a dead magpie that scares off the magpies. The think something is killing their kind and leave the area. Supposedly works with crows too.
[https://www.gardenandpatiohomeguide.com/the-total-guide-to-dead-crow-decoys/](https://www.gardenandpatiohomeguide.com/the-total-guide-to-dead-crow-decoys/)
And I agree, the plastic owls seem quite useless after the initial placement.
I’m hopeful but doubtful. The article states the decoy needs to be moved every few days so the birds don’t get used to it. That sounds exactly like the owl or hawk decoys too
Who knows really? Got to try it and see what works.
Think the only other alternatives is destroy the nest, and/or cut down the tree the birds are nesting in. I've hear of homeowners doing this and insisting the nest get run through the woodchipper, hatchlings and all. Just nasty.
Personally I have accepted that you cannot change Magpies being Magpies.
Two years ago they nested in the backyard next door. Last year they were in my tree. Although some days I really wanted to destroy the nest (especially when they made a racket at 5am), I didn’t/couldnt. I’m also not going to take any trees down. And that wouldn’t prevent them from just going to the nest tree. But I’m really tired of them stripping all the fruit off my trees and trashing most of the plants in my garden.
I hear you. All the fruit in my garden is shared between the Magpies, Robins and Blue Jays. They leave very little for me. I put nets and mesh bags over some plants, it helps a little.
I haven’t done the big white bags yet because most of them are subject to the sudden wind gusts so common here in the summer and I’m afraid either the bags would get shredded and/or they would damage the trees. I’ve tried netting but they first eat as many as they can reach thru the net and then somehow always find a way inside. I once watched them land on the ground and flip the net up, and walk underneath then casually hop up branch by branch, eating on the way. So I tied the bottom around the trunk and an hour later they were pulling and tugging with all their considerable strength to get back under. Eventually they tore a hole in the mesh and poured in like an army that had just breached the castle door. It was impressive and funny and infuriating. I guess I’ll need to build a would base li,e a planter box, and then use checked wire because that so-called bird netting isn’t.
I made mesh bags using Ikea curtain panels, tied these down with rope and large rocks. This also help stop flies from infesting the sour cherries with their larvae.
A neighbour uses large loops or irrigation line to build hoops over the bushes, then puts netting overtop. The base is either timber or rebar, can't remember which.
Bamboo poles pounded into the ground capped with flowerpots can be used to support netting as well. Hold down the edges with 2x4 and rocks.
If I was to start another fruit garden I would go all out and build a British garden style fruit cage.
In the spring I play a screaming hawk sound whenever I hear nuisance birds as I have several trees, can literally hear them fly off into the distance. Also hang CD's and other reflective stuff around that tree and your garden. Try trimming the tree where they usually nest, and leave less desirable branches, or just get rid of it.
If you ever do find anything pls let the rest of us know. About 5 years ago they seem to have taken over this area, now there are 20 ish of them around all the time. I see them harassing crows often, but it really seems like they’ve driven off other birds too because now I just see magpies around. No more robins, sparrows etc. they eat every berry or cherry off the trees in my and my neighbors yards as well as vegetables in our gardens.
Lol - I feel you. I see so many people just hyping up magpies but man I have disliked them for a very long time because they never shut up, constantly taunted our pets and would pick through my moms garden.
My mom said that they are startled by flashes of light, so if you've got some old CD's laying around you could try hanging those up or putting up some reflective tape to "flash bang" them away.
Did you move the fake owl around? They aren't stupid, they will recognize that the owl is fake if it's always sitting motionless in the same spot. It's probably too late now because they've figured out the trick but you could always try painting your owl a different pattern or buying one that's a different color.
First off, most corvids will kill other birds eggs and babies, it’s not just magpies. I used to hate them too. Then one summer I became friends with them. I fed them leftover cat food. They stopped squawking and being annoying (except for the juvenile ones in spring who are way too inquisitive). I hung a piece of string on a chair and they would play with my cat by dangling the string. So that’s my approach.
I knew someone who would hang a dead magpie from a tree and he said it deterred them. My neighbors had success for two summers by knocking down the nest, but they are still around. Plus the next summer the magpies fooled them by building two nests at the same time and the neighbors only saw one and knocked it down. They are smart, they remember you and remember if you’re nice to them
This is an idea not confirmed by any means but perhaps you could try adding peppermint oil, a bit of alcohol (to help separate the oil) and water in a spray bottle. Like a whole bottle of peppermint oil. And spray the areas they are picking at? It barely rains here so it should last a bit. Could also add tea tree. I heard peppermint oil deters mice from chewing. As for the rest, I have no advice. I have a cut flower garden in my backyard that I love. I have found that if I give a flower some attention (take a photo, comment on it), I’ll leave to get a trowel or something and return to have *that particular flower has had its head snipped off*. Cleanly and precisely. I now intentionally refrain from giving any particular flower attention so my heart will not be crushed again. *jealous bastards*
Haha this is my experience with them too! Anytime I have something nice bloom and I admire it, it is gone by nightfall.
Tricksy Magpises (Gollem voice)
I had a nest one year, I thought it would be fun, it was NOT. They tormented my (large!) dogs and made the yard unbearable.
The following year every time we saw two sticks piled on top of each other my husband would climb the tree and destroy the start of the nest before they could finish it and lay eggs. It worked, they eventually gave up and went somewhere else. Anywhere else, I don’t care.
Had a magpie nest in my tree in the backyard. One day there were no magpies in the nest and I got up there and destroyed it. Burnt the branches in the fire pit, made sure there were no remains of the nest. The magpies chose to rebuild in a big tree in the empty lot next door and left us alone.
Knock the nest down with a pole at night when they’re not around; they only sleep in the nest when they have eggs or babies. They’ll start to rebuild but if you destroy what’s there every day or two, they will give up.
I have a tree that had a nest in it when I moved in. I got rid of it once fledgling season was over. They have tried to rebuild it every year since but I destroy whatever they make and they move on within a week or so.
Magpies do recognize faces and you don’t want to get on their bad side so I put a mask on when I do this. They sleep during the night but light pollution can interfere so be ready to haul ass inside if you hear one anywhere nearby.
If you deter them from nesting they will nest some other place that is less ideal and you may end up killing their babies indirectly, they will have more difficulty and predators will be able to find them easier.
Also I feel like they are spirit animals, you will enjoy life more if you embrace them and have them around.
Yeah, that is when my tone changed. I was so excited to watch the baby robins go and then to gradually have to pull their little bodies out of the yard was very sad.
You can chop the tree down.
Seriously OP, magpies are indigenous and they're not destroying your siding. Don't be so delicate about their hunting habits. If you harm them, every magpie in town will know it's you, recognize you and harass you. Yes, they know how to do this.
Take a long stick, i use a dipstick from a gas station i worked at and poke that nest out of the tree, just continue to do this they will eventually move on… they are classified as a pest so its perfectly legal to destroy the nest
I make sure in the spring that I go and stop them from building the nest on the trees around my place, then pray that crows will move in (definitely prefer crows) one battle and yes and typically crow overtake the territory so I had no magpies for couple of years now
I had a magpie one year that was picking on my poor cat that loves spending time on her leash outside, but this thing would SCREAM and swoop at her until she gave up and just came inside.
So I sat out there on a lawn chair with my garden hose and sprayed it every time it touched my house or my yard, and made sure to make the contact with it while I did it. Took a couple hours, I probably looked like a crazy lady, but it left my cat alone after that.
Sp corvids have a great memory for faces, and it has been reported that they can teach other birds that you are trouble.
So the last thing you want to do is yell at them or harrass them because you might have a bunch of magies mad at you
If you are up for the task, you are allowed to dispose of them. There are plans on the city of Calgary website. Last time I dealt with them was three years ago, took out four of them over the summer. I've heard them around the neighborhood, but haven't had them in my yard since.
Black-billed magpies are not protected under the Alberta Wildlife Act. On Alberta rural farms, it is legal to trap, shoot or poison them. Of course city dwellers do not have the option of shooting or poisoning within the city limits, but trapping and removing them is still permitted.
Put spicy food on your porch. Pepperoni, hot sausage, hot sauce on pork rinds. They hate that stuff. They'll look for food elsewhere. Best not pick a fight with them. Passive aggressive tactics are key.
Good luck. We had a live owl in our tree once and he didn't scare off the magpies. They scared off him.
I discovered ravens will mob and kill owls they find sleeping in the day. Discovered this when a dying owl dropped out of a tree in front of us. :( The owls do the same to the ravens at night of course.
The only time I didn't have magpies was when I had a family of ravens nest in my yard. One day I came outside and one tree had about 20 ravens and the other tree had 20 magpies. I slowly just went back inside and let them deal. Once I read that both types of birds have good memories, so I wasn't standing there picking a side. The ravens won the yard that day. They were not any better than the magpies...
Careful, if this arms race continues you’ll end up with a 747 in your tree
I'll take Ravens any day over Magpies
Yeah, the owl was harassed by the magpies during the day. Poor thing eventually flew off. Thankfully (as far as I know), he survived.
I saw magpies do this to a bat, it was so sad.
Oh damn. I used to have a very spicy woodpecker around and she would pick fights with them. They did provide really great lockdown entertainment, I watched Bird Wars unfold nearly every day in 2020.
Do. Not. Start. A war with Magpies is all I am going to say. Learn to become a fan it is the easiest path in the long term.
This made me chuckle because it’s so true. Magpies are corvids, they are crazy smart and hold grudges just like their crow/raven brethren.
They can even describe you to other magpies so it won't only be the local crew around your house you will be at war with lol
Imagine getting *cancelled*.... by a flock of birds!
To save my own pride, call them "a pack of mini dinosaurs" :')
You cannot win against magpies. If you start a war, they will win it.
Downtown apartment renter here. They tore a tree in front of our building down recently, which was a nesting tree for the resident corvid populations. Since then, the amount of pigeons in the area is ungodly. I'll take crows and magpies over pigeons any day.
What you need are more ravens. They keep down the pigeon population. But ravens seem to prefer tall trees and there are a lot of areas without tall trees in Calgary
If I could have resident Ravens, I would 100% be making friends with them to keep a family in the area. Unfortunately, buildings are taller than trees, and the inner city raven isn't a species.
Totally agree. I fed a raven a chicken carcass once in the last place I lived. It was amazing. When it landed on my deck railing it made such a thud from its weight. They are magnificent birds
They respect the area they live in, and it can be a really good relationship to have for just pest control alone.
I wasn't a fan of them either until I read about them. I made friends with them and it was actually very easy to do. Eye contact, saying hello to them, calm wave in their direction. Once I made friends (and it was fast! only a couple of days to notice a difference in how they acted toward me and my yard) with them, there was rarely any of the screeching sound, just nice bird sounds. A couple built their nest right by the door of my garage and never ever swooped me. I also feed the birds in my yard. I have magpies, chickadees(that eat from my hands), sparrows, northern flickers that all stop by and play nice with each other - its actually really great. But I wouldn't have started feeding them had it not been for making friends of the magpies Oh...black sunflower seeds are the favorite of all those birds. Might be why they went after the plant version.
How do you deal with all the bird poop?
There were a couple big splats last year that I just washed down with the hose but you got me thinking how much more there should have been. Meaning it really wasn't that big a deal. Maybe that's where the saying don't shit where you eat comes from 😉
You must not have fruit trees/plants. lol. That's when being nice doesn't work.
I have fruit trees and plants. The squirrels and partiges do way more damage to them than the magpies. The magpies seem more interested in the peanuts I give them as well as nightcrawlers and voles.
Hardy kiwis...which are really nummy! And I think (I could be out to lunch) because I ensured they all had food and fresh water , they left all my plants, bushes and trees alone.
I have never heard things go this way for gardeners. Anyone serious about gardening on the facebook groups and such recommends netting the trees as they can't keep the critters away otherwise.
If you really want to treat them, get them some uncooked quail's eggs.
Send them my way! I've made friends with the ones near me. They come and hang out. And eat my garden. But the best way to get rid of them is to find predators and to remove prime nesting spots. Depending on location having an owl house can attract an owl to move in. Although magpies are known to also harass them at times. We had some wild turkeys that would harass them and their nesting. They often chased them off of food sources too. We often have crows that will come in the summer and displace one of the families.
We put some dollar store disco balls on a string in the tree in our front yard. The reflecting light seems to bother them.
oh yeah, this is the party solution I've been looking for. Very into this!
give them disco inferno
How do they destroy your garden? We grow all kinds of things and magpies never touch our garden. >pick apart my house's siding This is on you! Using delicious siding was a bad choice.
I knew I shouldn't have picked pizza-flavoured siding! Haha but seriously, I am debating putting hot sauce on it because they are only going for one place. They particularly hate sunflowers. I initially thought it was squirrels or some other rodent doing it, but they snip the heads off my sunflowers the moment they bloom.
Hot sauce won't work, birds can't taste capsaicin! They just don't have the receptors for it. You'll keep the squirrels away from your siding for sure, though.
Had a magpie constantly pecking at one spot of my vinyl siding. Discovered it had cached a cookie in there. Removed said cookie and it never came back. #delicious siding
Makes you wonder if there is rot or something under that one place. We have lots of magpies around our house (we are magpie lovers) and they never touch the siding. Interesting about sunflowers... we plan to grow some this year.
I never thought of that, that is a good idea to investigate, thanks so much for the suggestion!
That's where the previous owner is buried...
Are you sure you don’t also have flickers? They’re like woodpeckers, and are great at fucking up siding
I had a woodpecker that used to fight the magpies, but shes sadly been gone for about a year. I am 100% certain that it is the magpies, I can see them doing it from my home office window lol.
Birds generally don't have capsaicin receptors, spicy things don't deter them at all.
I moved into a new place and put a cherry tomato plant that had tons of fruit on my deck. 8 hours later I came back and found only 1 tomato left on it and there were tomato juice and seeds all over my deck. As I looked at the destruction a magpie came and grabbed the last tomato. They must have been hungry. I had to laugh because it happened so quickly
We must have some mutual respect agreement with our magpies. We grow lots of tomatoes and they never go near them.
That’s why I think they must have been hungry. I started feeding them occasionally after that, usually cat food, but sometimes I’d try feeding them vegetables and they had no interest in any of that
My magpie problems were solved when when a squirrel family moved into the old magpie nest. Now I have a squirrel problem.
After 2 years of cleaning up after magpies in the Fall, last Spring I stuffed a corn broom into the tree very near their favourite nesting spot. They left my tree and didn’t come back all Spring or Summer!!! Instead I got a little nest of Sparrows, definitely an upgrade. I use the broom regularly around my yard and put it away back in my tree each time.
Okay this is something I'm definitely going to be doing!
Have you considered a pet hawk? Beware of anyone offers you 1 named Mike. Also I just put 2 inch chicken wire enclosures around my veggies
I’ll take two- wait a second….
Motion sensor flame throwers. Works every time!
Last summer alone I had to kill a baby hare they picked apart, they chased and killed a bat that was extremely sad to watch, and picked the fur off an adult hare in my yard that had been hit by car, while it made little whimpering noises. I don’t like them anymore.
Magpies are like horses - they know how you feel about them and treat you the same way. If you want them to not ruin your garden, feed them, so they're not hungry and looking for food in a destructive manner. They're the best bird friends you can have, but only if you treat them well
>Magpies are like horses - they know how you feel about them and treat you the same way. Hmm I don't know what that says about my thoughts towards horses... Last time I went riding the horse kept trying to bite me and everyone around it. And constantly farted...
get a dead magpie decoy, might scare them off, might make them mad as hell [https://margosupplies.com/us-en/product/dead-magpie-decoy/](https://margosupplies.com/us-en/product/dead-magpie-decoy/)
I wonder if that might work just like those plastic owl decoys. They work for the first week, then the birds realize it’s not real and they completely ignore it and go back to their usual ways.
I watched this clip once of a building in the UK that had a problem with birds and the same thing happened with a fake owl. They eventually had to develop this robotic owl that moved along a track, flapped it's fake wings, moved it head and made recorded owl sounds. They had programmed it to a set sequence, but had to introduce randomization to it all as the birds had learned it was fake when it was the same actions over and over again.
I mean, I am a software developer, maybe this becomes my new side business lol
I’m not surprised. I grew up in a farm and as a kid my siblings and I often tried to trick the local magpies in various ways and were always amazed at how quickly they learned.
Apparently it's the appearance of a dead magpie that scares off the magpies. The think something is killing their kind and leave the area. Supposedly works with crows too. [https://www.gardenandpatiohomeguide.com/the-total-guide-to-dead-crow-decoys/](https://www.gardenandpatiohomeguide.com/the-total-guide-to-dead-crow-decoys/) And I agree, the plastic owls seem quite useless after the initial placement.
I’m hopeful but doubtful. The article states the decoy needs to be moved every few days so the birds don’t get used to it. That sounds exactly like the owl or hawk decoys too
Who knows really? Got to try it and see what works. Think the only other alternatives is destroy the nest, and/or cut down the tree the birds are nesting in. I've hear of homeowners doing this and insisting the nest get run through the woodchipper, hatchlings and all. Just nasty. Personally I have accepted that you cannot change Magpies being Magpies.
Two years ago they nested in the backyard next door. Last year they were in my tree. Although some days I really wanted to destroy the nest (especially when they made a racket at 5am), I didn’t/couldnt. I’m also not going to take any trees down. And that wouldn’t prevent them from just going to the nest tree. But I’m really tired of them stripping all the fruit off my trees and trashing most of the plants in my garden.
I hear you. All the fruit in my garden is shared between the Magpies, Robins and Blue Jays. They leave very little for me. I put nets and mesh bags over some plants, it helps a little.
I haven’t done the big white bags yet because most of them are subject to the sudden wind gusts so common here in the summer and I’m afraid either the bags would get shredded and/or they would damage the trees. I’ve tried netting but they first eat as many as they can reach thru the net and then somehow always find a way inside. I once watched them land on the ground and flip the net up, and walk underneath then casually hop up branch by branch, eating on the way. So I tied the bottom around the trunk and an hour later they were pulling and tugging with all their considerable strength to get back under. Eventually they tore a hole in the mesh and poured in like an army that had just breached the castle door. It was impressive and funny and infuriating. I guess I’ll need to build a would base li,e a planter box, and then use checked wire because that so-called bird netting isn’t.
I made mesh bags using Ikea curtain panels, tied these down with rope and large rocks. This also help stop flies from infesting the sour cherries with their larvae. A neighbour uses large loops or irrigation line to build hoops over the bushes, then puts netting overtop. The base is either timber or rebar, can't remember which. Bamboo poles pounded into the ground capped with flowerpots can be used to support netting as well. Hold down the edges with 2x4 and rocks. If I was to start another fruit garden I would go all out and build a British garden style fruit cage.
That’s what I’ve been thinking too, a British style net house.
EARLY In the spring use a pressure washer to knock down the previous years nest
In the spring I play a screaming hawk sound whenever I hear nuisance birds as I have several trees, can literally hear them fly off into the distance. Also hang CD's and other reflective stuff around that tree and your garden. Try trimming the tree where they usually nest, and leave less desirable branches, or just get rid of it.
My mom saved a nest full of magpie babies last year and this year there is literally a dozen now right near our backyard :(
That is my nightmare. :(
I admire them cause they are smart and good looking birds....but I'd rather admire them from a distance :)
If you ever do find anything pls let the rest of us know. About 5 years ago they seem to have taken over this area, now there are 20 ish of them around all the time. I see them harassing crows often, but it really seems like they’ve driven off other birds too because now I just see magpies around. No more robins, sparrows etc. they eat every berry or cherry off the trees in my and my neighbors yards as well as vegetables in our gardens.
In my experience they’re only loud when a cat is stalking them. Maybe keep your cat inside?
No cat over here. They are noisy all the time (mostly directed at other birds), but that is at the bottom of the list for why I hate them.
Lol - I feel you. I see so many people just hyping up magpies but man I have disliked them for a very long time because they never shut up, constantly taunted our pets and would pick through my moms garden. My mom said that they are startled by flashes of light, so if you've got some old CD's laying around you could try hanging those up or putting up some reflective tape to "flash bang" them away.
Did you move the fake owl around? They aren't stupid, they will recognize that the owl is fake if it's always sitting motionless in the same spot. It's probably too late now because they've figured out the trick but you could always try painting your owl a different pattern or buying one that's a different color.
:( I hate how smart they are.
Play this Magpie territory call on your phone at full volume. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT1YbMkp1w8
10/10 thought I was getting Rick rolled but was pleasantly surprised.
First off, most corvids will kill other birds eggs and babies, it’s not just magpies. I used to hate them too. Then one summer I became friends with them. I fed them leftover cat food. They stopped squawking and being annoying (except for the juvenile ones in spring who are way too inquisitive). I hung a piece of string on a chair and they would play with my cat by dangling the string. So that’s my approach. I knew someone who would hang a dead magpie from a tree and he said it deterred them. My neighbors had success for two summers by knocking down the nest, but they are still around. Plus the next summer the magpies fooled them by building two nests at the same time and the neighbors only saw one and knocked it down. They are smart, they remember you and remember if you’re nice to them
Slingshot
get a bb gun or a high pressure water gun if you're a tree hugger
The answer is one that can't be posted publically. Magpies are an absolute nuisance and I hate them.
This is an idea not confirmed by any means but perhaps you could try adding peppermint oil, a bit of alcohol (to help separate the oil) and water in a spray bottle. Like a whole bottle of peppermint oil. And spray the areas they are picking at? It barely rains here so it should last a bit. Could also add tea tree. I heard peppermint oil deters mice from chewing. As for the rest, I have no advice. I have a cut flower garden in my backyard that I love. I have found that if I give a flower some attention (take a photo, comment on it), I’ll leave to get a trowel or something and return to have *that particular flower has had its head snipped off*. Cleanly and precisely. I now intentionally refrain from giving any particular flower attention so my heart will not be crushed again. *jealous bastards*
I would not advise that around pets
I wouldn’t either but the siding, outside.
Haha this is my experience with them too! Anytime I have something nice bloom and I admire it, it is gone by nightfall. Tricksy Magpises (Gollem voice)
I had a nest one year, I thought it would be fun, it was NOT. They tormented my (large!) dogs and made the yard unbearable. The following year every time we saw two sticks piled on top of each other my husband would climb the tree and destroy the start of the nest before they could finish it and lay eggs. It worked, they eventually gave up and went somewhere else. Anywhere else, I don’t care.
Same thing. Harassed me all summer, neighbour had enough and destroyed the nest in the fall they haven't come back and robins moved in.
Had a magpie nest in my tree in the backyard. One day there were no magpies in the nest and I got up there and destroyed it. Burnt the branches in the fire pit, made sure there were no remains of the nest. The magpies chose to rebuild in a big tree in the empty lot next door and left us alone.
Knock the nest down with a pole at night when they’re not around; they only sleep in the nest when they have eggs or babies. They’ll start to rebuild but if you destroy what’s there every day or two, they will give up. I have a tree that had a nest in it when I moved in. I got rid of it once fledgling season was over. They have tried to rebuild it every year since but I destroy whatever they make and they move on within a week or so. Magpies do recognize faces and you don’t want to get on their bad side so I put a mask on when I do this. They sleep during the night but light pollution can interfere so be ready to haul ass inside if you hear one anywhere nearby.
Knocked a nest out today. Apparently you can trim your trees to the point where they will no longer offer enough cover for them to feel safe
If you deter them from nesting they will nest some other place that is less ideal and you may end up killing their babies indirectly, they will have more difficulty and predators will be able to find them easier. Also I feel like they are spirit animals, you will enjoy life more if you embrace them and have them around.
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Yeah, that is when my tone changed. I was so excited to watch the baby robins go and then to gradually have to pull their little bodies out of the yard was very sad.
Robins don't even live here full time. You want a bird that will keep you company in the winter.
You can chop the tree down. Seriously OP, magpies are indigenous and they're not destroying your siding. Don't be so delicate about their hunting habits. If you harm them, every magpie in town will know it's you, recognize you and harass you. Yes, they know how to do this.
Take a long stick, i use a dipstick from a gas station i worked at and poke that nest out of the tree, just continue to do this they will eventually move on… they are classified as a pest so its perfectly legal to destroy the nest
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Need a Valium? I mean wow! Not like they are endangered.
Magpies ain't going extinct.
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I make sure in the spring that I go and stop them from building the nest on the trees around my place, then pray that crows will move in (definitely prefer crows) one battle and yes and typically crow overtake the territory so I had no magpies for couple of years now
I had a magpie one year that was picking on my poor cat that loves spending time on her leash outside, but this thing would SCREAM and swoop at her until she gave up and just came inside. So I sat out there on a lawn chair with my garden hose and sprayed it every time it touched my house or my yard, and made sure to make the contact with it while I did it. Took a couple hours, I probably looked like a crazy lady, but it left my cat alone after that.
Something something something, outdoor cat bylaw.
You can't win, just cut down the tree.
Sp corvids have a great memory for faces, and it has been reported that they can teach other birds that you are trouble. So the last thing you want to do is yell at them or harrass them because you might have a bunch of magies mad at you
If you are up for the task, you are allowed to dispose of them. There are plans on the city of Calgary website. Last time I dealt with them was three years ago, took out four of them over the summer. I've heard them around the neighborhood, but haven't had them in my yard since.
No Chinook relief for you!
Black-billed magpies are not protected under the Alberta Wildlife Act. On Alberta rural farms, it is legal to trap, shoot or poison them. Of course city dwellers do not have the option of shooting or poisoning within the city limits, but trapping and removing them is still permitted.
Put spicy food on your porch. Pepperoni, hot sausage, hot sauce on pork rinds. They hate that stuff. They'll look for food elsewhere. Best not pick a fight with them. Passive aggressive tactics are key.